By AUBREY COHEN, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, September 22, 2008

Local union officials testified Monday that an agreement with the developer of a 10-acre site in Little Saigon ensured that the project would benefit the community. Neighborhood representatives were less enthusiastic, but pledged not to oppose the $300 million plan.

Ravenhurst Development, operating as Dearborn Street Developers LLC, has proposed a six-story building with 600,000 square feet of retail space, plus 45,000 square feet of offices and 500 homes at the northwest corner of Rainier Avenue South and South Dearborn Street. Most of the land is home to Seattle Goodwill, which would remain on the site.

"This project shows that development can be done in Seattle with the interests of all affected communities in mind," Stefan Moritz, representing the local union of hotel and restaurant employees, told Seattle hearing examiner Sue Tanner during a hearing Monday morning on the project. The plan also drew enthusiastic support from representatives of unions covering food and commercial workers, laborers and service employees, and the Washington State Labor Council.

The agreement is between the developer and the Dearborn Street Coalition for Livable Neighborhoods, which is made up of business, neighborhood, labor, faith, housing, environmental and ethnic community organizations. The deal calls for 200 affordable homes in the project; $200,000 from the developer to ease area traffic impacts, $200,000 for a Little Saigon community center and $600,000 over 12 years to support the Little Saigon commercial district; guarantees about worker pay, benefits and freedom to organize, and the hiring of local, female and minority workers; below-market rents on 5,000 square feet of space to community nonprofits; and a promise to use environmentally sustainable building practices.

Supporters said the community needs the jobs, affordable housing and nearby services. Target and possibly Lowe's are set to anchor the development, which would include a grocery store, smaller shops and new facilities to replace Goodwill's aging and decrepit buildings.

"We can't delay this any longer," said Janice Jackson-Haley, vice president of human resources for Seattle Goodwill. "Short of a miracle this project is our only hope."

But Central District resident Deric Gruen said the project would harm neighborhoods beyond Little Saigon and Jackson Place.

Dennis Saxman, a member of the Pine, Olive Way, Harvard Avenue Triangle neighborhood group, said the project was too big and auto-oriented for the proposed neighborhood commercial zoning and, with increased property values brought by the development: "There is a high potential that Little Saigon will cease to exist."

Tanner, the hearing examiner, will make a recommendation to the City Council on the developer's requested rezoning from industrial commercial, with a 65-foot height limit, to neighborhood commercial, with a maximum of 85 feet. She also will rule on appeals of the city's environmental determination and design-review approval for the project.